Out of the Desert
by ThanatosV7
Summary: Rey has lived her whole life on the outskirts, a scavenger in the deserts of Jakku, however when she is forced to leave her life behind and travel to the capital of Coruscant for a contest she never wanted to win, she learns that they key to belonging does not lie in the past, but in the future. A historical, non historically accurate AU that demands to not be taken seriously.


**Brief authors note** : I hope you enjoy my foray back into the world of writing. This is an experiment that plays fast and loose with vague medieval references and the plot and characters of the Force Awakens. Comments and crit welcome. Let's see where this wild ride takes us.

* * *

Rey Niima took a moment to wipe her brow, already perspiring lightly in the early morning sun. Her horse, a small, desert breed, pawed impatiently at the delay, and she reached down to reassuringly stroke his damp chestnut neck.

On the sand dunes of Jakku province an unprepared traveler could easily die of heatstroke before midday, and even though Rey had lived there for as long as she could remember, that didn't make her immune to its perils. She had set out hours before first light, when the air was cool and the sand shone silver in the moonlight. While an early riser by habit, the life of a desert scavenger necessitated it, there was a particular reason she had wanted to leave the outpost unnoticed.

Reaching unconsciously, she stuck a hand into her side pack and felt the reassuringly cool hilt of the object that had caused her to travel this far into the dunes. She shivered slightly at the tingling sensation that rushed through her as her fingers touched the metal, the wind suddenly like the whisper of a hundred voices in her ears. Quickly, she pulled her hand away.

Over thirty years ago there had been a great battle in the desert of Jakku, where kings and legendary warriors had fallen, and the Empire had risen to unite the seven kingdoms and bring peace to all the lands. That was what the legends said at least. If there was peace and prosperity it hadn't reached Jakku, or the trade outpost where she and other scavengers barely scrapped by on what artifacts they could salvage from the desert. If you were lucky you would earn enough to buy food rations, but not so much that you'd get your throat cut in the night.

Growing up, Rey had been lucky that no one was bothered or threatened by a little orphan girl, and by the time she had grown into her teenage years, she had learned enough to defend herself.

Smiling, she looked down at the modest hut in the valley below her, still shadowed by the ever shifting rise of the dunes. This was where she had gotten her first staff and learned to use it, where she had sheltered countless times from the biting sandstorms, huddled in front of a candle in the dark as a soft worn voice regaled her with stories of farm boys who became mystical knights, princesses who fell in love with smugglers, of the mythical Jedi Knights.

Wrapping her scarf back over her mouth, Rey gently nudged her gelding down the side of the dune, letting herself melt into the saddle as he found his footing in the loose sand and at the bottom she eagerly urged him into a gallop across the stretch of firm earth that led to her destination. There was a well behind the hut, and she would not leave until the sun set, giving him ample time to recover. For now she just wanted to feel the wind whip through her linen clothes and across her face, to feel the weightlessness every time his stride came together and left the ground.

* * *

The old man was already standing outside when she drew closer, pulling her gelding up into increasingly smaller circles until he stilled enough to let her dismount. While the horse was old and normally complacent, there had been a restless energy in him since they had set off this morning, a reflection of the questions burning through her own mind.

"I sense there is more to this visit than a simple social call?" The old man questioned, in his familiar accented voice. His smile was warm, crinkled and soft, but she could feel the concern in his gaze as he watched her dismount and unsaddle her horse.

"San Tekka." Rey said, clutching her pack tightly to her chest. "I found something yesterday, in the Graveyard. It reminded me of a story you told me when I was little. I couldn't sell it to Unbar Plutt."

Eying the wrapped, oblong shape with curiosity, San Tekka held open the door. "Well then, come inside."

The interior of his hut was as familiar to Rey as her own bolthole at the outpost - the soft sand stone bricks and faded, threadbare rugs, the crude wooden furniture painstakingly carved by hand. Setting her pack on the table she carefully reached in and grasped the cool metal hilt, slowly drawing it out to reveal a long saber sheathed in worn black leather.

Rey could feel the static stillness in the air as San Tekka's hands hovered over the blade, a look of wonder and recognition in his pale eyes.

Rey herself hadn't taken the time to truly study the blade for fear of being discovered, so she took the time now to examine it more hilt itself was black and shone like obsidian. Set in its center was a blue stone, though covered in dirt and dulled by time, Rey could tell that it was valuable.

San Tekka was humming to himself, fingers brushing along the hilt and scabbard in reverence, a wistful smile at the corner of his mouth.

"It is really - really a lightsaber?" Rey finally burst out, half embarrassed and half hopeful. She'd believed the stories he told her growing up were just that - fairy tales to entertain a lonely child. But somewhere in the back of her mind this felt different, real.

Looking up, San Tekka gave her an amused look. "Well there's only one way to find out." He replied, and with a motion too fluid and practiced for one of his age, drew the sword from its scabbard and held it up to the light.

It was as if all light in the room - from under the door and through the window slats converged into one singular, blazing point. The metal of the blade shone silver-blue like the desert in the moonlight and Rey couldn't tear her eyes away.

"I should have known." San Tekka spoke sadly, almost so softly that Rey didn't hear. "The blade calls to you, doesn't it child? The force moves through you."

Blinking, Rey took an unconscious step back.

"The force? that's just a story, its not real."

"I'm a historian Rey, not a fabulist." He chided gently. "Take this blade, and you will see the truth." He extended the hilt towards her, and Rey couldn't help but reach out, her hand closing firmly on the cool metal.

As soon as the saber was in her grip she felt that strange sensation rush through her, wild and electric. The whispers returned, rushing through her ears like running water, and as she gazed at the blade she was suddenly no longer in the safe warmth of San Tekka's hut, but in front of a shining white city, its parapets golden in the sun, and then on a battlefield in the rain and mud, a blade, its steel burning like a twirling sun as its wielder cut down their opponents. Someone was yelling her name.

Startling she jumped at the sound of metal clanging to the floor. She was back in San Tekka's hut, and the man was watching her with concern and, for the first time since she'd known him, pity.

Rey felt her anger rising, hot on the back of her neck. She hadn't asked to find this strange sword, or to have supernatural visions, or to be pitied by anyone. She was self sufficient and while she didn't have everything ,she knew how to survive. That should be enough. Even as she tried to rationalize, a part of her wondered if it would ever be enough again.

Clamping down on those thoughts, she turned to glare at the old man as he bent to pick up the saber and re-sheath it.

"Well I'm certainly not taking that back. It's clearly valuable, and likely to get me killed."

"I agree." He replied. "You may keep it here until I have found a teacher for you. A master who can train you in the ways of the Jedi knights."

"I don't want to be a knight!" Rey balked. "And I'm not leaving Jakku - not while there's still a chance…" She trailed off softly. He knew that her family was coming back for her; how were

they supposed to find her if she was off training to be something that shouldn't even exist?

"Rey," he spoke gently, "We do not chose our own destiny. All is as the force wills it."

"Kriff the force." She bit out sullenly, earning a reprimanding look from the man that was the closest thing to family she could remember.

"I'm sorry Lor San," She replied, suddenly finding that she was fighting to blink back tears. "But I can't."

Turning abruptly, Rey pulled open the door and stepped back into the now blistering afternoon. The heat rose off the sand in waves, and for a moment she thought thats all it was, until the shimmer on the horizon began to form into the shape of horses, and men in white armor.

Suddenly Lor San was at her elbow, wrapping something tightly around her waist.

"It's the Emperor's soldiers. You must run."

"Emperor? What are they doing this far out in the desert?" Rey cried, as she was given a quick leg up onto her gelding. Forgoing the time to saddle him, her legs wrapped around his bare back.

Tightly gripping the bridle to hold the fidgeting gelding in place, San Tekka looked up at Rey, his features blurred by the blinding light of the sun, his hand coming to rest gently on her ankle.

"May the force be with you Rey. Don't let them catch you." He spoke, and letting go of the reins, slapped her horse's hindquarters, sending the girl hurtling across the desert.

* * *

Tears streamed down Rey's face as she rode, hands fisted in the gelding's dark mane. Turning her head she could see the white riders fading into the distance, lost over the ridge of the dunes. She should have felt relief, but there was something heavy in the pit of her stomach and buzzing in her head that made her feel, despite the expanse of the desert, that she was a rat at the entrance to a trap, the catch about to slam closed.

Shaking her head to try and clear her thoughts, Rey abruptly changed directions, heading towards the Graveyard. She had hidden there many times before, amongst the wreckage of siege machines and long toppled fortifications.

Despite the change in direction that ominous heavy feeling still hung in the air, seeming almost cold to Rey's mind in the desert heat. She could feel herself starting to panic, her breath coming in quick bursts, sweat stinging her eyes, and that presence inciting a fear so deep she felt almost paralyzed in the saddle. Were it not for growing up on a horse's back she was sure she would have fallen.

Pulling up suddenly Rey cursed under her breath. In her panic she hadn't paid attention to where she was riding, and as a result she found herself at the dead end of a canyon - looming sandstone cliffs on all sides too steep for any horse, or person to climb. The thought of a rat in a trap hadn't been so inappropriate after all.

Staring up at the cliffs, Rey felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, and she turned swiftly, heart already racing at what she knew she would see.

A lone rider, clad all in black, stood at the entrance of the canyon. His hood was pulled up, but the sun glinted off a black and silver lined helmet,obscuring his face. He handled his horse, a taller, darker version of Rey's own mount, with ease despite the animal struggling to lunge forward at her like a beast after a kill.

As he approached, her gelding began to fidget and toss his head in return, making it difficult for Rey to both control him and focus on the threat infant of her. At least the rider was alone, and wearing all black in the heat of the midday sun would have to slow him down.

For the first time Rey felt the brush of something against her leg, and looking down noticed that the lightsaber hung around her waist, as if it was meant to be there. That had been what San Tekka had wrapped around her in the haste of her departure.

Palming the cool metal hilt Rey once again felt the surge of power flow through her, but this time there were no whispers, only calm, cool like the desert at night.

By now the dark rider had pulled up feet in front of her, his masked face tilted down at her. If Rey squinted she could almost make out a pair of dark eyes, burning.

"Why did you run?" The rider spoke, his voice deep, as if somehow modulated by the reverberation through his helmet.

"That's generally what one does when they're being chased by men in armor." She bit back, turning her fidgeting horse in a tight circle.

"The Empire protects its subjects. Even a scavenger should know that." He replied.

"Not in my experience." She ground out. "Where was the empire when we were starving? When we were picked off by raiders from the north?"

"Come with me and you'll never starve again."

"Why is the empire so interested in me? I'm just a _scavenger_." She replied, mocking his tone.

"The Emperor has decreed that all force sensitive women," he paused, as if pained, "are to be brought to the capital for training."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said lamely, knowing the waiver her voice betrayed her.

To all outward appearances he sat calmly, if imperiously, in the saddle, his posture the very picture of detached restraint, but in her mind he was as wild as his mount, swarming all around her, consuming her.

"Don't be afraid." He spoke softly. "I feel it too."

It was if an icy blade had plunged straight into her mind, and she cried out, dropping the reins to grab at her temples. Images flashed in front of her - a small girl crying as a rider galloped off into the desert, the same girl being pushed to the ground and the first burning feeling of hate, San Tekka and his warm smile, an island she had never seen before - alone in the middle of a vast ocean.

"You're so lonely." He spoke, as if entranced.

Rey felt embarrassment and anger well up inside of her. How could this stranger presume to know anything about her? How could he so easily read her innermost thoughts?

Gritting her teeth, she focused on the cold presence in her mind, and with every ounce of her strength she pushed back.

She was falling into something deep and dark, a spiraling whirlwind of anger and pain that tore at her sanity. Flashes of images came to her then: a city burning, screaming, a tall armored knight in a black helm, a feeling of such despair that it burned the back of her throat like bile

"You," She gasped, glaring at the dark rider, "You're afraid."

Letting out an animalistic growl, the rider extended his hand towards her, and Rey found herself flying backwards out of the saddle, the sharp impact knocking the breath from her body and sending her world into darkness.

As Rey fought against the unstoppable wave carrying her into unconsciousness, she could have sworn she felt a gloved hand gently trace the curve of her face.


End file.
